


Christmas Day

by shomarus



Series: Twenty-Two Angels to Defend Me [22]
Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F, yall can rip this trope from my cold dead and very gay hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 22:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13153281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shomarus/pseuds/shomarus
Summary: Therese has two very distinct gifts for Carol.





	Christmas Day

**Author's Note:**

> merry christmas, happy holidays!! i'm late because i suck, sorry. you know what i hope didnt totally suck? your holiday season!!  
> i love these girls a lot!!! thank you for reading!

“It’s Christmas already?”

“Looks like it. Come on, sleepyhead, we’ve got presents to open.”

Therese groaned, but didn’t say anything further, instead opting to roll out of bed with a low whine. Carol watched with a small smile dancing on the edges of her lips. That was another one of the many things that Carol loved about the Holidays, how time seemed to slow, letting her soak up small moments like this. “Lucky you, we don’t even have to get dressed today.”

“Think I stayed up too late,” Therese grumbled. “Can we get a cup of coffee before we wake up the little one?”

Carol’s reply was halted by the noisy stamping of feet in the next room. She laughed. “Looks like Rindy Law says we’re not allowed.” Sure enough, only two seconds later, Rindy was bursting into their room, exclamations of Christmastime excitedly pouring from her lips.

It’s been a while since Carol had seen Rindy this excited for anything, much less for any sort of Holiday. She felt a sudden wave of doubt; her gifts had never been extraordinary, not when compared to Harge. Children were ridiculously materialistic, and could Carol really compare? A train set last year, a doll the year before. Her worries were put to rest when Therese began tugging her to the living room with a very loose grip. “You start opening presents, _I’ll_ start making coffee.”

Carol took a deep breath and sat down on the couch while Rindy immediately started going for the gifts. “Snowflake, don’t you want to wait until Therese is finished?”

“Don’t mind me,” Therese called from where she stood, bringing out the percolator. She paused. “Oh, unless you wanted me to take pictures?”

“Can’t we do that afterward?” Rindy called back with an impatient whine.

Hesitating for only a second, Carol relented. “Fine.”

Not needing to be told twice, Rindy immediately went for the first gift she could see with her name on it. Carol recognized the wrapping paper to be Therese’s gift (fondly, Carol remembered when Therese had come up to her with a defeated look, asking her to help wrap the book). Rindy shook the present with a curious look. “Can I open this one?”

“Go ahead,” Carol said. While Rindy was in the middle of shredding the gift wrap, Therese toed her way over to the tree with a smile, having picked up her little rangefinder on the table.

“The coffee can wait another two minutes,” Therese mouthed with a little wink. Carol’s mouth split into a toothy smile.

“You should teach me how to use one of those sometime,” Carol said suddenly, though Therese wasn’t given much time to respond for Rindy was already looking at the book, gasping with thanks.

The anthology was one of Karl Shapiro’s, a name that Carol was familiar with, but she didn’t quite surround herself with poetry. That was more of Therese’s thing, which was why this was a rather nice gift to give. Carol heard the familiar snap and saw the flash of Therese’s camera. She pulled back with a wide-mouthed smile.

“Isn’t that nice!” Therese exclaimed. “Maybe I’ll read you some of these before you go to sleep tonight.” Carol could hear the play of excitement that bled through her tone. Therese would be more than happy to explain the nuances of poetry to Rindy. Carol _almost_ felt a little jealous.

“Rindy got to open a gift, so now it’s Therese’s turn,” Carol said with a cryptic grin and reached over to pick up a gift. “Santa’s way of repaying you for all your hard work.”

Therese laughed at took the present from Carol’s hands. “I can only wonder what this is,” she said, and it took all of Carol’s willpower not to usher her to open it. Therese split the paper and neatly put it on top of Rindy’s own shredded wrap. “Oh!” she gasped and looked up to Carol. The stack of music books that she bought earlier in the month. “Wow, thank you.”

There was a very distinct feeling in the air. If Rindy hadn’t been there at that particularly moment, Therese would have come up and laid a kiss straight on Carol’s lips. Carol smiled, there would be time for that later. Why, they practically had all the time in the world!

“Okay, okay. Following the circle of progression, that means you have to open a gift now.” With that, Therese straightened up and retreated to their room, Carol’s curious eyes tracking her as she did. Was there something she missed while Carol was cleaning? Must be (because admittedly, the only reason Carol had taken to cleaning their room was because she was devious and impatient, wanting to scope out the gifts before she could open them).

Therese reappeared only a few seconds layer, holding a thin rectangular box to her chest. She waved the box in front of Carol’s hands; Carol took it.

“Oh my God,” she whispered upon opening. The frame was nice, cutely decorated with various beads and pins (something that Carol could only assume Rindy had a hand in helping her with). But what really mattered to her was the photo that was inside. The developed photo from when Therese had first given Carol a gift, the Billie Holiday vinyl from a year ago. Carol had _almost_ forgotten. “You’ve been hiding this for so long, you rascal!”

Laughing, Therese nudged at Carol. “I thought it’d be nice. Oh, that’s not everything I got you, but I think we should wait until a little later.”

Carol raised an eyebrow. ‘A little later’ was code for ‘when Rindy’s not around’, so she could really only wonder what it was that Therese had in mind. Therese retreated back to the coffee brewer, smiling all the while. “Alright, _now_ I’m going back to the coffee.”

 

Gift unboxing continued for another few minutes. Carol had gotten Rindy a set of paints (because she once remembered Rindy talking about how she adored art class back in New Jersey) as well as a set of clothes. Carol had also bought a set of stockings for Therese, as well as a promise that they would go shopping sometime in the upcoming weeks for something together. Rindy was in her room trying to use the paint, which left Therese and Carol on their own.

“Now you’ll tell me what you got me?” Carol said mischievously, playing with Therese’s hands. Therese sat in the space of Carol’s lap as they watched something on the television. Some kind of Christmas special for a talk show, or whatever. She hadn’t been paying attention and she didn’t quite believe that Therese was paying attention either, leaning into Carol’s chest with a contented sigh.

“Damn, I guess I have to. And your lap is just so comfortable.” Therese gave Carol a mock pout but shuffled out anyways. Instead of going to their room like Carol expected, Therese fished for something out of their closet, presumably out of the pocket of her own coat. She returned with a small box and tossed it Carol’s way, then sat next to her. She smiled. “I’m not, well… Not entirely sure _how_ I’m supposed to gift this to you, really. It’s kind of silly, now that I think about it? I had to pester Dannie into going with me, and you couldn’t _imagine_ the look on his face when the store workers spoke about our supposed… Well, I shouldn’t say anything, not until you open it.”

Carol could hear a small rattling in the box, and Therese’s own monologue gave her a very distinct idea of what was actually inside. The box was very cutely wrapped in a snowman-styled wrapping paper. Carol opened it delicately.

Inside the box was a small ring, ornately decorated. For a moment, Carol was speechless. She supposed, for a moment, that was why Therese wanted to leave it until later. She wasn’t sure how to describe it to Rindy, as well as the fact that she had to overcome her own anxiety. Therese was a sensitive person, Carol found. “Oh, this is… This is beautiful.” Therese leaned over and grabbed the ring from where it was propped up, then took Carol’s hand and slid it on her finger.

“There.” Therese smiled. “This is kind of a… Pseudo-marriage proposal, I suppose. I guess I could have accomplished the same thing with a heartfelt letter, but I’ve been saving up for a while. What I mean to say is that you’ve—you’ve made me so happy, and I want to repay you for that. I want to spend my life with you. When I imagine us separated, for even a moment, it feels like too much to bear. I can hardly understand it myself, you know? I’m rambling, I know, but I’ve been thinking about this… About you and us, I mean, for so long. I don’t. I don’t really know what else to say.”

Carol could feel the distinct prickling of tears in the corners of her eyes. Odd, because she wasn’t the type to cry, but she felt the emotion, raw and powerful, and she shook her head with a smile. “You really are something, you know that?”

“It’s because I love you,” Therese pointed out and pulled Carol down for a kiss. “Merry Christmas, Carol.”

Carol laughed into Therese’s lips. “Merry Christmas.”


End file.
